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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Government Will Not Force Proton-Perodua Merger

The government will not force Malaysia's two national car companies, Proton Holdings Bhd (Proton) and Perusahaan Otomobile Kedua Nasional Sdn Bhd (Perodua) to merge, says Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

He said any solution or proposal needs to be agreed to by both stakeholders.

"We cannot force them to make a decision as there is a long spectrum. At one end is loose cooperation and at the other, a merger, which has yet to be decided," the Minister told reporters at a signing ceremony between SME Corporation Malaysia and SME Bank here today.

He said the government would encourage and have talk with both companies. Mustapa has been involved in individual discussions with the two companies.

"It's a major collaboration and cooperation between Proton and Perodua and not a straight forward process," he explained.

He also said, in reality, there have been a lot of mergers and it made sense for the two companies to collaborate and make the automotive industry competitive.

It was reported earlier that the government had signalled the need for a merger in the automotive industry, especially between Proton and Perodua

source: Bernama

Auto Insider Malaysia: Looks like the merger talk between Proton and Perodua still far from over. If you are a keen listener of this merger development in the past few month, Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed has hinted previously that the talk has been finalised and they are going to present to PM Dato' Seri Najib but this latest piece of news was a U-Turn from the previous piece of news. Looks like it's going to be a ding dong development in the auto industry as what we have seen during the failed talk of Proton and Volkswagen AG.